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Understanding More About Sulfur Oxide Removal

Sulfur dioxide is reactive and colorless air pollutant and it has a strong odor. It certainly is a dangerous substance and could cause big damage to human health, plant life, and animal health. Hence, it is important to find out ways and means through it is possible to remove sulfur oxide from various natural elements that are used by human beings. Before gathering a reasonable understanding of the ways and means of sulfur oxide removal, we need to have some idea about the sources of sulfur oxide. The main sources are from fossil fuel combustion and also because of natural volcanic activity. A typical example is Volcanoes National Park in Hawaii where the concentration of sulfur dioxide is very high when compared to many other national parks. Hence, identifying the sources and reducing the production of sulfur oxide is perhaps the best and organic way of keeping the environment free from this substance. However, this might not be always possible and under such circumstances, the next best approach is to find out ways and means by which it can be removed from as many sources as possible.

How Can It Impact Health?

Sulfur oxide is known to cause irritation to the mucous membranes of the throat, eyes, nose, and lungs. It also irritates the skin and can lead to irritation and inflammation of the respiratory system. This can increase during physical activity. Common symptoms are cough, difficulty, and pain while breathing, throat irritation and infection, and various other bronchial problems. A high concentration of this compound can impact and even damage lung function. It could also lead to worsening of asthma attacks and also could lead to heart disease and cardiovascular problems. People with asthma and other lung diseases and those suffering from chronic bronchitis are at risk when it comes to sulfur oxide contamination.

How To Avoid Exposure That Is Unhealthy?

There are some simple steps that could help avoid exposure to this compound. Stay away from potential sources of pollutants. Further, if you are planning some strenuous activities, it would be better to put it off if the place or the surrounding you are in has increased pollution of sulfur oxide.

Some Simple Ways Of Removing Sulfur Oxide

Wet scrubbing, spray dry scrubbing and wet sulfuric process are some of the most common ways and methods that can be used for so2 removal. Further, power stations are one of the most common sources of sulfur oxide. Waste gases are one of the biggest sources of sulfur oxide generation and therefore efficient and clean ways of handling waste gas could help a lot in removing this substance from the gaseous substances. As mentioned above treating waste gas using scrubbing and other processes is considered to be foolproof and time-tested ways.

Finally, there is a need to identify and isolate sulfur dioxide and this can be done through its chemical and physical properties. The risk is that sulfur dioxide does not have any physical form and it can be best identified through a chemical process. Simple tests using litmus papers can be a great way of finding out the pollution levels of sulfur dioxide.